House of Uncertainty
by Tsurt Emit
Summary: Why does Nina seem to catch Fabian and Patricia having a 'moment' She pretends not to like him, because she thinks Patricia does. Fabian and the Girls set out to get Nina to fall in love with him. FABINA.
1. Chapter 1

Nina, Patricia, Amber, and Mara were all assembled in the dining room. They had the house to themselves (and Trudy). Victor and the boys were all out at a guy's sci-fi movie night.

Apparently the House of Anubis did this once a month- Girls and guy's night out. It rotated on who would actually go 'out' and tonight- was the girl's turn to stay in the House. Victor certainly didn't seem to enjoy it, but all he had to do was drive the guys there and back, and while there, he waited in the car.

Trudy loved girls night out [or 'in' in this case] and actually insisted on it. She made sure to give the teenage girls their space- so she stayed in the kitchen busily cooking food. It was no secret to her that when girls get together- they can eat more than a pack of teenage boys.

Popcorn, candy, and baked goods scattered about, the girls lounged in front of the TV. They had just finished watching a cliché chick flick and were still not expecting the guys for another few hours.

Amber was styling Nina's hair and Patricia was going through other options for movies. Trudy walked in the room with another plate of home baked oatmeal and raisin cookies and set them on the table.

"Here you are!" she said with a nurturing smile, "Oh Mara, careful about painting your nails. You know Victor…. he hates the smell of nail polish," she warned.

"Thanks Trudy," said Mara agreeably closing up the bottle and walking over to the window to hold them out to dry in the night air.

"You know what would be fun?" said Amber, "Truth or dare."

Normally everyone ignored Amber's chattering of suggestions for the girl's night out- but Patricia perked up.

"Actually. That's not a bad idea," she said looking at Nina.

"We haven't played yet with you- this should be interesting," she in serious voice that Nina suspected Patricia was only using to make her nervous.

"I'm game," Nina replied excitedly.

"Ok then, you first," said Amber as Patricia nodded.

"Truth or Dare"

"Truth," said Nina smiling (she never chose dare).

Amber, Mara, and Patricia whispered together on the other couch.

"No," Nina heard Mara say, "Isn't that too rough for a first question?"

"It's truth or dare," Patricia whispered skeptically, "that's how you play."

"Good question Patricia," said Amber in a carrying stage-whisper.

"Ok," said Patricia staring at Nina challengingly, "Do you like anyone at the current moment?"

"Like?" asked Nina fake-innocently.

"Yes. Like a boy," said Patricia talking slowly- as if to spell it out for her.

"Yes. Yes I do," Nina replied easily.

"Who?" asked Amber.

"My question is over- someone else's turn," she said as everyone glowered at her.

They then all listened to Amber's most embarrassing moment that happened in front of Mick and Mara's childhood story about when she tackled another girl on the playground all over a coloring book. Then Patricia ate nine cookies in three minutes, on a dare. Then finally it went back to Nina.

"Truth or dare," they asked.

"Truth,"

"Who do you like?" Patricia asked. Nina honestly didn't think they would waste another question on that, but apparently she was wrong.

"Uh…," she stalled as she thought critically about the question. She normally wouldn't have hesitated. She was an open person. But something struck her as strange. _Why was Patricia all of a sudden so curious about her love life? _Patricia obviously knew that Nina liked Fabian.

_Patricia obviously likes Fabian too_, thought Nina as she pieced things together. She recalled seeing Patricia and Fabian shoulder to shoulder in the biology room speaking to Alfie. They were doing things without her.

But most importantly was the most recent evidence:

***FLASHBACK*****

Nina watched as Patricia walked up to Fabian and sat next to him on the couch.

Minutes later he heard him exclaim, "I could kiss you!" and moved towards her to do so.

**END FLASHBACK**

Patricia wasn't one to get all emotional about love, so Nina assumed she wouldn't want to kiss him in public (or have him kiss her). But this proved that he too liked her if he wanted to kiss her.

Nina feared getting in Patricia's way. They had recently become friends in the Sibuna Club and she didn't want to lose that. She had to respect that Patricia had first rights to him- after all, she WAS the Newbie (as Patricia was fond of calling her).

Plus, Fabian obviously didn't like her that way. They were friends. She thought trying not to get sad.

She then broke the most important rule of Truth or Dare when she answered the next question as a lie, in making up a name- "Patrick, he's a guy I liked from America. I liked him for years, but out of sight- out of mind, I guess."

She knew that answered in a lie to stay in Patricia's good graces and to ease Patricia's mind. Patricia didn't have to worry about Nina being competition.

The girls looked in shock at Nina's response. Amber actually gasped.

"So you don't like any guys from Anubis House?" she asked again to be sure she got it correctly.

"No," replied Nina again, "No I don't."

* * *

FABIAN's POV

It had been a long night.

The guys were difficult people to go to the movies with. Alfie and Jerome talked the entire time while Mick was texting every other scene.

Fabian wasn't even sure he liked Sci-fi, at least, not a marathon of it. He liked it more in small doses.

During the only romantic scene in the movie, after the shooting scenes had stopped- Jerome actually started up a conversation with him.

"Say Fabian. What's taking you and Nina so long?" he asked.

Fabian nearly spit his soft drink out of his mouth. "Say what?" he choked.

"Come-on man, you like her- why haven't you asked her out?" Mick asked flipping his phone away.

Jerome shook his head as if Fabian were the most pathetic thing on earth, "The poor boy obviously has never had a crush before," he tutted, "he obviously doesn't know what to do."

"What? No!" replied Fabian slightly annoyed at the jab.

"Then what's the problem?" asked Jerome.

"Nothing! I just want to make sure she likes me- is all," Fabian said trying to explain himself.

"Wise," commented Alfie nodding- as if he was extremely experienced.

"Stupid," replied Mick and Jerome at the same time. Which was weird, Jerome and Mick rarely struck a chord.

"Take a risk mate, if you're not sure. You don't want her deciding that she DOESN'T like you," said Mick wisely. Of the three guys there, Fabian only trusted Mick's opinion- since he seemed pretty good with the girls.

"Fine," he said as the guys rolled their eyes and went back to watching the movie. As soon as he said it, Fabian grew nervous. He had to tell Nina he liked her.

**A/N: I can't update for three days or so- BUT review if you want to inspire me to write faster. I'm pretty sure I know where I want to go with this but I'd love to hear comments! **


	2. Chapter 2

Nina regretted ever agreeing on playing truth-or-dare. In their room that night, Amber pelted her with questions.

"So you don't like anyone?" she verified yet again.

"No. I used to like Patrick from America- but I don't really think I feel the same about him anymore," Nina answered.

"So, you like someone else now?"

"No!"

"No one?"

"Not. A. One!"

Amber got quiet then. She seemed to switch gears and said instead, "Ok. Well, let's talk about guys at the House then. What do you think about Fabian, Jerome, Mick, and Alfie?"

"Do we really have to do this?"

"Yes. We do. I want to know your exact feelings on all of them!"

"I don't know all of them very well ye—" Nina tried to say.

Amber cut in, "Start with, Alfie,"

"Funny and energetic," Nina replied lamely.

"Jerome,"

"Frighteningly confident," Nina said in the same tone.

"Mick," said Amber with a slight twitch of the mouth. Nina responded with care.

"Nice enough. Don't really know him,"

"Fabian," said Amber, her attention seeming to peak. Or was that just Nina's imagination?

"Friendly. He was my first friend here," said Nina trying to stay generic as she had in responding with the others.

"Anything else?" Amber asked.

"I like him," Nina said to her instantaneous regret.

"You LIKE him!" Amber yelled triumphantly.

"No. no. no! That's not what I meant! When I said I like him, that's all I meant. I don't like-like him. I already told you I don't like-like ANYONE," rushed Nina with a twitch of annoyance. This 'like-like' stuff felt kindergarten-ish to her.

"Okay. Fine," said Amber narrowing her eyes in disappointment.

"Night," Nina responded turning off the light.

* * *

When Amber heard Nina's breaths grow deeper and more consistent- she slipped out of bed in her pink fuzzy bunny slippers and crept out the door.

She quickly made her way to Mara and Patricia's room and knocked quietly.

"It's me! Am-ber!" she whispered loudly and slowly.

They opened the door and let her in. The two girls had the light off in their room, but they had multiple torches lit. Mara handed one to Amber.

"Nina DOESN'T like Fabian!" Amber informed them in tone of disbelief, "I asked a bunch of questions but she didn't seem to like ANYONE in the House- let alone Fabian."

"She's got to like him!" Patricia said to general astonishment.

Even Patricia wanted Fabian and Nina to get together. She had known Fabian all of her life and really wanted to see him happy. _He's such a shy kid,_ she thought. Everyone in the House had come and gone with their boyfriends and girlfriends and Fabian quietly helped each of them out. Always listening to boyfriend/girlfriend discussions or being extra nice when he knew that someone was going through a break-up. _He deserves a chance a love_, Patricia thought.

She internally winced. _Ekkkk, I sound like Amber or Mara with all this lovey-dovey thinking. _

"He certainly likes her, we can think of something," Patricia continued.

None of them suspected that Nina liked Fabian, they still didn't know her well enough to visibly spot if he liked him more than a friend. So the girls plotted practically.

"We'll make her fall in love with him. When she does- it should be easy from there," said Mara snapping her fingers. (She had just recently spent her last few weeks trying to make Mick fall in love with herself- so she felt she had some experience behind her.)

"Fine. How do you propose doing that?" Patricia asked rolling her eyes skeptically.

"Let's make a list," said Amber grabbing one of Mara's notebook and pens and began writing down notes in bubbly letters.

"What makes you all fall in love with a guy?" Amber asked.

"He needs to be sweet," Mara said immediately. Amber took a deep breath and continued to write- she knew Mara was thinking of Mick.

"Forget that," interrupted Patricia, "He needs to be interesting! Something needs to draw her to him,"

"What about you Amber?" asked Mara, curiously.

"Well dressed, handsome, and he needs to treat me like the princess I am," she ticked off as she wrote.

The girls continued to come up with ideas but the next step came as a challenge.

"Ok, so what do we do with this list?" asked Patricia when they couldn't think of anything else.

"Well, let's start with clothes and the whole 'handsome thing,'" said Amber eagerly.

"How do we go about that? I mean, Fabian's cute, really," said Mara.

"But we need to make him REALLY handsome. Irresistible." said Patricia. "But how do we do that?" she said repeating Mara's question.

"Oh I think we'll think of something," said Amber smugly as she pulled out a credit card from robe-pocket.

"I just got an increased allowance for not over-maxing my cell-minutes last month," Amber said nodding with that all-too-smug-smile.

They spent hours looking up clothes and debating over each prospective order. Patricia wanted leather pants and all things edgy while Amber wanted (UBER) prep-boy style.

Mara had to keep their angers at bay, "WAIT guys! We cannot simply give him a whole new, more appealing look. That won't work because we want her to fall in love with HIM, not who we WANT him to be. "(She had learned that from her experience with Mick.)

"We need to keep the old Fabian look and just, improve on his old wardrobe…designer clothes or adding an accessory here and there." She finished adamantly.

In the end, they all agreed that Mara's way was best- though they DID buy him one leather jacket.

They continued to strategize until four in the morning. They disbanded after Amber started getting grumpy from sleep deprivation. All the caffeine they had at the movie party had long since worn off.

* * *

The next morning everyone stumbled in for a late 10 O'clock brunch that was considered a tradition after the 'Night Out.'

After Alfie gave a long winded summary of the sci-fi movie to the girls, they all discussed their plans for the day and the girls began to implement their plan.

"Hey Fabian. Nina. " said Patricia, "Do you want to go to the town with me this afternoon?"

"Actually, I've been meaning to go to town," said Jerome, "I'd love to go. Thanks for asking."

"I DIDN'T ask you," said Patricia.

"I want to go too!" chimed in Alfie.

Patricia started to say no, but Mara interrupted her.

"It's fine. How about we ALL go?" she asked, eyes wide and signaling Patricia not to argue.

"Fine," said Patricia grudgingly. _Why did Jerome have to make things so difficult? He should not have said anything. She would have to deal with him later._

"Oh hey Fabian," said Patricia trying again. "Since you're getting up, will you bring the fruit bowl over to the table?"

"Sure," said Fabian agreeably, as always.

"Isn't he so thoughtful?"whispered Patricia to Nina. Nina's stomach turned at this. She thought of last night- Patricia was obviously gloating over the fact that Fabian liked her and not Nina.

This upset Nina more than she though it should. She should not care. She wouldn't LET herself care. BUT- she figured it would be easier not to care if she was not in the room when Patricia was gloating over her Fabian. So she got up as she answered Patricia, "Sure he is," and left the room to get ready to go into town.

* * *

They left for town in an hour. They decided to walk since it was a nice day, it wasn't far.

Mara and Mick suddenly decided not to come. Mara had whispered an explanation to Amber and Patricia before they walked out the door. Since they were expecting the clothes to come in the late afternoon, she told the girls that she would work on the 'Fabian-clothes' mission, or specifically- how to actually GET them to Fabian… she and Mick would think of something. She didn't need to tell them that she was also seeking some alone time with him.

They all walked as a group to town, talking and laughing on the way. But when they got there, Patricia grabbed Jerome's arm and hissed at him- "Let's go to the shop across the street- you owe me a new hair piece after what you did to the last one."

"It was an accident," said Jerome mildly struggling to stay with the group.

"Nope- you are replacing it, and you are replacing it now," she tugged him across the street leaving Amber to take her cue.

"Alfie, I need someone to help me carry my shoes that I ordered a few weeks ago- will you help?" she asked carefully.

Alfie was thrilled and began tugging Amber down the street.

Fabian looked at Nina and shyly offered her an arm.

"Shall we?" he asked.

She hesitated, but lightly accepted his arm as they strolled deeper into town.

* * *

**A/N: Thanks for reading. The reviews are completely appreciated :) Next Chapter is coming soon- reviews make me write faster (as always) **

**PS- I am trying to add a hint of romance between other characters too- upon request. NOTE: Not much Nina/Fabian action in this chapter (in case you didn't notice)- but certainly in chapters to come. **


	3. Chapter 3

Together, Nina and Fabian made their way through town.

Nina was surprised that Patricia left her alone with Fabian, but she knew that they were just friends and Patricia must be showing her that she trusted Nina. That- or she was testing Nina. With Patricia, Nina could never be sure.

So, Nina kept that in mind as she strolled arm in arm with Fabian.

They stopped at a bakery and watched the baker cook bread from outside the window. Nina and Fabian gaily waved at the man when he turned to face them after he had tossed another loaf into the brick oven.

They tried on sunglasses. They listened to a street guitarist. And, they got free samples of fudge.

They talked the entire time. If her friends were to ever tell her that Fabian was shy, she would never believe them.

"So what'd you do on weekends in America? Did you go to town?" Fabian asked curious.

She laughed, "I never really went to 'town'- that's too quaint for where I come from. But actually, I lived in the suburbs, so not really."

"Then what?" he asked stopping to look at some sheet music that was for sale on a miscellaneous vendor's cart.

"Hang out with my friends. Go to the mall. Go to sporting events. Hang out at the pool in the summer," she listed, "What about you Fabian? Is this how you guys all hang out normally?"

Fabian wanted to impress her by saying that he did some pretty wicked stuff on the weekends, but he couldn't on principle. He had always been a guy of honesty, and wouldn't change now.

"Yah," he admitted, "We don't leave the school much, so going to town is a pretty big treat" he said stressing the word 'school' as 'skol' in cute British accent.

"It so exciting being here though, I love boarding school," she said enthusiastically.

"Hey look!" Fabian said suddenly pointing to a pet shop.

Instead of walking towards it, they took off running through the streets towards the shop. Fabian got there first and opened the door for Nina.

The pet shop man was really nice. After Nina and Fabian 'ooh' and 'ahh-ed' over the bunnies and hamsters, he offered to let her hold a kitten.

"Actually, I'm allergic to cats," she said regrettably. She suddenly looked up at Fabian remembering the first morning when he found her crying in the hallway and she used 'allergies to cats' as an excuse for her tears. She could feel her cheeks growing warm in embarrassment at the memory.

The man handed her a puppy to hold instead. It was so tiny and energetic she could hardly hold it in her hands. She held the little white, snowball-resembling puppy up to Fabian and it licked his nose. Nina could feel her heart pounding- it was the cutest thing she had ever seen.

She nearly slapped herself for thinking that. _Nina, you idiot_, she said to herself. _Stop falling for him. He's cute. Get over it. _She severely reprimanded herself.

She snapped out of it when she spotted Patricia and Jerome coming from across the street. Nina inconspicuously took a step away from Fabian.

Patricia and Jerome were still arguing when they walked through the door.

"Jerome! We are not arguing about this!" said Patricia.

"Oh yes we are! I'm not a sucker- you're going to give me the RIGHT answer. Soon!" he replied.

"What are you two going on about?" asked Fabian.

"Nothing," said Patricia, "Let's eat. We can meet Alfie and Amber at the café across from the shoe store."

* * *

They all met up in the café. Amber had actually made reservations there so they were able to sit right down.

"So Nina," said Jerome with a wicked gleam in his eyes, "What have you and Fabian been talking about?" he asked.

But before she could even respond he continued talking to Nina while looking straight at Fabian, "Do you have a boyfriend now?" he asked. Fabian slapped his forehead- Jerome had expected him to ask Nina out when they were alone, but he was having too much fun that he hadn't even thought about it!

Jerome was severely embarrassing Fabian, while inflicting pure confusion upon Nina. Nina assumed that this sudden interest in her love life was linked to last night's game of truth or dare with the girls.

"No, Patrick is in America so will you all please lay off now?" she said exasperated.

"Patrick?" Fabian asked horrified. He had waited too long to ask her out! She liked someone else now!

"Some guy Nina liked," explained Amber.

"Liked?" Fabian said hopefully.

"Can we not talk about this?" Nina requested.

"So Fabian, how's the guitar playing going?" asked Amber in one of her more tactful attempts to move the conversation back to Fabian to draw Nina's interest to him.

"Good," Fabian said distractedly thinking about Nina and Patrick. The girls spend the rest of the lunch trying to make Fabian look impressive to Nina. They bragged about him and fawned over him. But by the end of the lunch, they feared Nina to be severely indifferent.

* * *

When they got home, Trudy met them at the door.

"Oh Fabian!" she said immediately when she saw him, "I am so sorry- but I fear we have had a bit of a problem."

"Problem?" he asked.

"It was the oddest thing, but when you were gone, your dresser caught fire. The investigator we had here said that it must have been a problem with the old electrical systems in the walls. In any case- all of your clothes are destroyed! Well, oddly- except for your uniforms. I am so sorry dear!"

Fabian's eyes widened. Mick called him to their room, "I'm sorry mate- you can have my extra clothes."

Fabian walked dumbly to his room and could distinctly smell the smoke from within his room.

"Uh, I got some extra clothes that my dad sent me. I put them in the new dresser that Victor moved here,"

Fabian found the drawers to be stocked with some exceptionally nice clothes. He audibly gasped.

"Your dad sent you these?" he asked.

"Yah- he buys me too much- I'd rather you have them," Mick said.

"But we're not the same size," said Fabian practically.

Mick's eyes widened, "Uh. Righttttt…my dad ordered all of this in the wrong size- so I couldn't wear them anyway."

Fabian trusted Mick. He suspected nothing, "Oh. Ok. Thanks man, this is really generous."

"Don't mention it," replied Mick who rushed out of the room as Fabian examined his new clothes.

* * *

Mick met the guys in the common room. Alfie rushed in and informed them all that the girls wanted to talk to them in private- in Mara and Patricia's room

Soon everyone in the House, excepting the adults, Nina and Fabian were assembled in the girl's room. The girls and Alfie sat on the beds while Jerome leaned against a wall and Mick sat by Mara's desk.

"Ok- we have a situation and we have deemed it necessary to involve the guys at this point," said Mara formally.

"What situation?" asked Alfie.

"The Nina and Fabian situation," replied Amber.

"Oh Yah. Fab is just so slow. We were just talking to him about asking her out last night," said Jerome.

Patricia gave him one of her rare smiles of approval, "Good, and he said…? "

"He said he'd do it. But after today's Patrick thing- I think he's lost his nerve," replied Jerome rolling his eyes, "Pathetic."

Patricia slapped his arm, "Hey! This is Fabian we are talking about!"

"Yah- but he is just _too_ shy!" said Jerome defensively, "If he wants a girl he needs to have confidence."

"He thinks that they are just friends, he doesn't know what to do," Justified Mick.

"Now what?" asked Mara.

"I'm going to go talk to Fabian about this myself after dinner," decided Patricia.

"You're going to tell him what we're doing?" asked Mara shaking her head.

"No stupid. I'm going to inform him that Nina doesn't like Patrick and I'll tell him that Nina likes him," she said.

"But we're not sure about that!" said Mara.

"So? It'll boost his confidence when asking her out," said Jerome shrugging.

"You know what I think?" Said Amber, "I think we need to set up a really romantic moment for them and then just leave them alone,"

"Good idea," said Alfie. (He always liked Amber's ideas)

After they decided on setting up a romantic moment for later that night, they left to change for dinner.

* * *

That night at dinner, Nina couldn't help but do a double take at Fabian in his new clothes.

"Woah," she said trying not to look at him too much, "Nice clothes."

"Thanks Nina," said Fabian smiling in embarrassment.

"And I thought Trudy said they all burned in the fire," she said.

"Mick gave me some," he explained nodding to Mick from across the table. Mick nodded back.

"So, I was thinking with the guys," said Mick, "that we should do an ultimate scavenger hunt tonight,"

Everyone chimed in agreement, "We'll draw names for teams and then go around the House and Campus in the search," he whispered to everyone's excitement.

He pulled out a bunch of strips of paper from his pocket and Jerome began picking. (In reality, the strips of paper were blank so he just made the teams as he went.)

"Amber and Alfie," said Jerome.

"Why am I not surprised?" said Amber rolling her eyes.

"Mara and Jer-" but Mara interrupted him.

"Mick! It says Mick!" she cried.

"Fine," said Jerome glaring at her.

"Ok then, "Jerome and Patricia. And then Nina and Fabian."

* * *

After dinner when Nina went to Fabian's room to get him before the game started, the door partly creaked open. (The house was creepy like that.) She heard Patricia and Fabian talking from within. They were alone. She heard the word "love" come from Fabians mouth and Nina's response was instantaneous. She walked quickly away from the door and tried very hard not to get jealous.

She realized that she liked Fabian more than was healthy if she wanted to remain friends with Patricia. So she decided that it may be best if she didn't let herself get too close to him.

She walked up to Jerome, Amber, and Alfie and asked them quietly.

"Is it possible I could trade partners?"

She wondered why they all gave her such surprised and sad looks.

She had no way of knowing that they were all thinking the same thing: _"We've got our work cut out for us." _

* * *

**A/N: It is an honor to know that someone out there is reading my little story fantasies. Thanks for reviewing. Next chapter will come up in the next two to three days (quicker if at all possible.) **


	4. Chapter 4

Apparently the others in the House had a huge problem with Nina switching partners, because she found herself sneaking around campus with Fabian that night. They hadn't let her switch.

She held the list, all of which held random outdoor objects like leaves from a particular tree or a rock from the walkway at the entrance.

It was weird; Nina hadn't seen any of the others running around on the scavenger hunt. But, she figured, the must be really good so as not to get caught.

She and Fabian hardly dared to whisper outside. Or use a flashlight (or 'torch' as Fabian called it) because the night was still fairly young and other Houses were no-doubtedly still awake.

It was going to be 10 O'clock soon and Nina and Fabian needed to head back soon before Victor missed them. They were at the far end of campus and were hurrying back, arms full of random objects. When a few groundskeepers walked by (What were they doing there that late anyways?), Nina and Fabian jumped behind a row of bushes and lay as flat as they could. They tried to stay as quiet as possible, which was rather difficult considering they had been running all over campus and were out of breath.

Soon the groundskeepers left- a lower classman teacher came walking by with their French teacher. Nina and Fabian knew that they Victor was probably giving the five minute warning as they lay there in the bushes waiting for the adults to leave.

Fabian felt a drop on his arm and looked up at the sky to see the rain just beginning. He saw the sky light up with a flash as boom quickly followed it. The teachers hurried indoors. Nina and Fabian jumped up, abandoned their scavenger hunt items and began moving quickly towards the House.

* * *

"Wow, they've been gone a while," said Amber.

"WE KNOW!" shouted everyone. (Amber had been saying that at regular intervals for the past half hour.) None of them had actually gone on the scavenger hunt. They just gave the list to Nina and Fabian, and off they went. It was an 'instant date' as Amber called it.

The others remained in the common room.

"With any luck, they are snogging right now or at least professing their eternal love for each other," said Patricia sarcastically (but maybe a bit hopefully too).

Mick and Mara sat doing biology at the table. Mara continually glanced at the window as she said worriedly, "I hope it doesn't rain."

"Nah, it won't," said Mick ironically as thunder boomed. Trudy bustled in from the kitchen and closed all of the windows.

Victor came in a few moments later and after yelling at Jerome for having his feet on the sitting room table, he threatened them to all get to bed.

"Five minutes! You have precisely five minutes, and then I want to hear a pin drop!" He said dramatically as everyone rushed off before Victor could yell at them some more.

"What shall we do?" said Mara worriedly, "They are going to be stuck out there in the rain!"

"I'll worry about that. Leave it to me," said Patricia. The girls looked relieved and asked no questions because when Patricia said she got it, she for sure had a plan.

* * *

After lights were out Patricia crept downstairs.

She stood quietly at the top of the steps as she watched Mick walk out of his room and unlock the door for Fabian and Nina.

As soon as Mick turned the corner, Patricia crept downstairs and relocked it.

As she was about to turn back to go upstairs she sensed someone behind her. She whirled around and came face to face with Jerome.

"Jerome!" she whisper-screamed as she gave him her fiercest glare.

"Ah, locking Fabian and Nina out…. are we?" he said nodding knowingly.

"I have my reasons," she responded coldly.

"Perhaps to give Nina and Fabian a chance to spend some real time together?" he asked. But really, Jerome didn't 'ask' he just **said** it as a question. He knew what she was up to. And when Patricia didn't answer he continued.

"That's cold. And that's coming from _me_. The best idea you had was to lock them out in the rain? Just like your best idea was to set fire to Fabian's old clothes so you could give him his new ones?"

" THAT was definitely not my idea," hissed Patricia forcing her voice to stay low.

"Nonetheless, you obviously seem desperate," he threw back at her.

"Just because it's harsh doesn't mean it's not effective," she replied with confidence.

Jerome was impressed. Jerome was RARELY impressed.

Patricia's cell phone vibrated from inside her pocket. She pulled it out and looked at the screen.

**Incoming Text (1): Nina Martin: Plse opn the door! Itz raining**!

Jerome looked from the phone and then at Patricia.

"Tell them that the door is being watched by Victor. I'll unlock it for them in an hour," said Jerome giving Patricia a wink and then walked back towards his room.

* * *

"The door is being watched!" reported Nina to Fabian.

They were huddled under the Anubis House doorstep, keeping out of the rain.

"When will they open the door?" he asked.

"An hour- How are we supposed to last until then? And we can't stay here, what if someone comes out and finds us here?" said Nina.

"I doubt anyone will be leaving the House this late at night, and in this weather," said Fabian sensibly.

_This isn't so bad_. All things considered, aside from being a little wet- Fabian was glad to spend some time with Nina. Since they had plenty of time, he may even get a chance to tell her how he felt about her.

Fabian sat down in front of the door and leaned against it to prepare to wait. Nina stayed standing doubtfully. She was obviously thinking of ways to break into the House and get inside.

But then, the front light flickered.

Nina stared at it. It flickered again and went dead.

In the darkness that followed, Fabian felt Nina quickly jump down to sit next to him.

"Scared of the dark?" he teased.

"This House is so weird," she said in wonder. _Why did the light go off at the very point when she most needed it? Now she had to sit with Fabian AND in the dark no less. _She quietly groaned.

They were silent then. It has seemed that they had worn out every conversation in the past few hours of talking while on the scavenger hunt.

At first Fabian was self conscious and tried to think of something to say to her, but after a while, he reflected that the silence wasn't necessarily bad. In fact, it was relaxing just to be with someone and not have to say anything. He could still say millions of things to Nina, but here and now- he felt he didn't want to say anything.

They were both really tired. And wet too. Fabian remembered his manners with a start when he saw Nina had no jacket, and gave his to her.

She tensed up, "No Fabian, then you won't have a jacket," she protested.

"No, I'm fine," he insisted.

"How about we share?" she suggested. And with that she draped it across each of their shoulders, which inevitably forced them to get even closer together.

There was silence again. Nina was obviously really tired and Fabian watched her head continually droop. He wished she would just lean her head on his shoulder, but he was too shy to point that out to her.

Minutes ticked by, and they both quietly mourned the loss of each one that passed. This was an opportunity, they each realized.

Fabian enjoyed the excuse to stay close to her and sat contemplating what he was going to say to her. Whatever he was going to say, he had to say it right.

Nina likewise secretly cherished these moments with him, but at the same time she felt a sense of guilt. Was this a betrayal to Patricia in any way? She wanted so much to convince Fabian that she was the right girl for him, not Patricia- but Nina had made a promise to herself and she would not break it. It would not be fair of Nina to take advantage of this opportunity with Fabian.

* * *

Nina must have fallen asleep because when she woke, she saw that the time was almost up. It had gotten colder outside and she could now she their breaths in the air. But because she and Fabian were so close, she was actually rather warm.

She heard the door unlock and they slowly stood up.

She was about to open the door when she felt Fabian take her hand. She looked back at him confused as her stomach dropped. Her heart picked up its pace.

"Nina?"

"Yes?" she replied.

"If I asked if we could kiss. Right now. Would you say yes?" These were the hardest words Fabian ever had to say.

So was it fair that the hardest words he ever had to hear came right after them?

"No," she replied her voice in barely a whisper. She wanted to burst into tears. No, she didn't want to do that- she WANTED to kiss him right then and there. But she couldn't. She shook her hand free of Fabian's as she began to make her escape.

"But why?" he asked. Not showing the emotions that were going on inside him. He felt sadness combined with the feeling of lost hope that can only come with having felt hope before. He had thought Nina like him. He had allowed himself to hope that his feelings towards her were mutual. He had never been in this position before. He didn't know what to do except to ask why.

"Why?" he asked again as Nina hesitated with the answer.

"I think you know why," she replied before making her escape into the House.

* * *

**Frankly, I don't really approve of writing comments from the author at the end of the story- because I feel that a story should stand on its own. BUT- I am going to be a hypocrite because I really wanted to respond to some reviews. **

**In reply to everyone's comments: Yes. Nina is being rather stupid. I want to shake her and say- "NINA! GET YOUR FACTS RIGHT! YOU KNOW WHAT ASSUMING DOES! (It makes an *** out of you!) But alas- I think that this is fairly realistic because they are obviously rather shy about their feelings in the show (why else are they moving so slow? Don't answer that. It was rhetorical). **

**In addition, it's refreshing to write about a conflict that is not even there (as **_**Water Wolf 100**_** so rightly said- they seem to create the drama themselves). My last story, ****Trapped in a Warehouse****, was all about real/outside issues, so this is a nice little change for me. **

**Lastly: **_**GodHatesBaguettes**_**, thanks for the imagery there- I'm glad I helped inspire you to envision "little Fabian pieces" – your response greatly entertained me. As did many other reviews. **

**Keep reviewing everyone- And I'll keep writing! **


	5. Chapter 5

Fabian crept into his room and fell face down onto his bed. His insides felt all shriveled up like a raisin, or an old man. The most overwhelming feeling that came to him then was that of embarrassment. He never should have pushed things. He had probably ruined things with Nina forever.

But then- the lights in his room flashed on.

All the guys in the House were sitting in there- waiting for him.

"What do you want?" he groaned, contorting his face from the frown to his normal 'Fabian-smile.' It was hard, so he kept his face pressed down into his pillow until he could rearrange his frown fully.

"Sooo… how was it?" asked Alfie barely able to contain himself. Fabian was faintly worried that they the light in the room would draw Victor there, but he really didn't care that much.

"What?" was all Fabian could ask.

"Nina! So are you guys official?" asked Mick. Fabian could practically hear Mick's smug smile.

"What do you mean?" Fabian said, deciding to play it dumb. How embarrassing would it be to tell the guys that she turned him down?

"Come-on mate!" said Mick loud enough that even Alfie shushed him and looked worriedly at the door.

"You guys were out there for hours! You mean to tell me you guys weren't snogging the entire time?" Mick continued, this time a little quieter.

"Embarrassed?" added Jerome smirking. He loved to see Fabian squirm- that's why he insisted on being there when Fabian got back. Alfie had followed him.

"Will you guys go away?" Fabian said, irked.

"Nope," they all said much too cheerfully.

"It wasn't like that at all," said Fabian turning over on his bed and looking up at the ceiling. Before the guys could say anything else- Fabian let it out,

"She wouldn't let me kiss her,"

"She wouldn't LET you?" Said Jerome skeptically, "Who cares if she lets y-"

Jerome was interrupted by Mick and Alfie who shushed him and were demanding an explanation from Fabian.

"When I asked why, she said that I would know why," Fabian explained.

There was a lot of muttering and attempts at justification of her behavior.

"Is that all she said?" asked Mick sounding surprised.

Fabian nodded.

"Something's not right," Mick finally said.

* * *

The next morning was a Sunday.

Patricia woke early (actually just earlier than USUAL, she usually slept into well past 10:00) when she heard a knock at the door.

No one wakes Patricia up when she wants to sleep. She rolled out of bed, grabbed a notebook, opened the door, and threw it at Jerome's waiting face.

Jerome ducked.

"Not a morning person?" he asked and strolled right in as if he owned the place.

Mara came in moments later, also still in PJS, carrying a muffin and a textbook and stopped dead.

"You did NOT just wake her," she said in awe and slightly frightened. Mara cautiously looked at Patricia who she feared would fly into a fury at any moment.

"Why would you wake me?" Patricia yelled. (it was too early to all-out scream with her voice).

"I thought you would like to hear the interesting development that occurred last night," said Jerome instantly grabbing their attention.

"What?" asked Mara.

"Well, we all talked to Fabian, after Nina and Fabian came in last nig-" he began.

Patricia cut right through him, "-ohh so they guys are now having girly gossip sessions?"

Jerome ignored her, "As I was saying- long story short- it didn't work. Nothing changed between Nina and Fabian. It looks like she doesn't like him after all,"

The girls were shocked. Jerome was pleased to be the one to deliver this news.

"We are having a meeting. Now." said Patricia as she sent out a mass text. She didn't like it when plans she made didn't work.

Patricia wasn't big on 'setting people up' and all that girly jazz so she just wanted to get this over with. _Why is this so difficult?_ she wondered.

* * *

The text was effective. Everyone (aside from Nina and Fabian of course) assembled in their room within 5 minutes.

Jerome tried to explain the story of last night again. But of course, the girls were not satisfied with his level of detail. Mick tried to explain what Fabian had said, but he gave even less detail than Jerome.

"Mick, what was his facial expression when he said it?" asked Amber.

"Was his tone of disappointment or just discouragement?" asked Mara.

"Were those his exact words?" demanded Patricia.

"I don't know!" Mick said helplessly overwhelmed.

The girls were conferring about the little details to the story as the guys watched the girls jump to conclusions.

The chatting got so loud that no one heard the quiet knock at the door. When no one responded, the door quietly opened.

Alfie quickly turned around and everyone likewise turned automatically. The room instantly went silent when they saw Fabian was standing there with his arms crossed.

"What exactly are you doing?" he asked suspiciously.

Everyone quickly said, "Nothing!" but Fabian stood in the doorway unmoving.

"I heard my name," he stated simply, "I want to know why you are talking about me,"

That was so typically Fabian. Unwavering and always seeking the truth. This was the boy they all loved and cared for as a brother and a friend. So after staring at each other for a tense moment they told him what they were up to.

"You're kidding," was all he could say as he sat dumbfounded sliding down the doorframe into a sitting position.

"Guys- why would you do something like that?" Fabian asked. They had never seen him so upset.

"We want to help!" said Amber.

"So you're saying, that even with you all trying to pair us up—Nina still won't go out with me? So you've been sneakily trying to convince Nina to go out with me this entire time? AND- you found out from a game of Truth-or-Dare that Nina doesn't like me and you TOLD me to ask her out anyway?" They had never seen Fabian like this. He didn't yell but they could hear the betrayal seeping out of the cracks in his voice.

"We didn't know about the game of Truth-or-Dare until after we talked to you," Mick said feebly trying to defend the group.

"But that just PROVES that we were all thinking the same thing and you guys would be great together," said Patricia strongly glaring back at him. She felt angry. She was trying to do something nice and here Fabian was all upset about it.

Fabian took a deep breath, "Even Jerome?" he asked.

"What?" asked Jerome as the entire room turned towards him.

"You thought that Nina liked me? And you wanted to help?" Fabian challenged.

"Uh," Jerome was initially doing this because it involved lots of gossip-slash-'undercover'-work BUT lately and mostly because Patricia was so invested in this little project.

"Sure," Jerome replied stoically.

"Now I'm convinced," said Fabian rolling his eyes.

"Talk to us," commanded Amber, "we think something is weird about the way Nina rejected you last night."

Fabian's face burned red with extreme embarrassment.

Mara chimed in and tried to steer the conversation towards the actual problem solving.

"So she gave you no reason?" Mara asked.

"No. She said I would know why," replied Fabian who was still red. He didn't like talking about this as a group, it embarrassed him. He didn't like thinking that he needed help to get Nina to like him. It was pathetic.

"So she has no boyfriend. She's not a homosexual. Fabian hasn't done anything bad to annoy or anger her. She doesn't like anyone right now… does she?" asked Mara.

"She might like someone else!" said all the girls snapping their fingers.

"Let's talk to her!" said Amber jumping up.

"Woah Woah Woah!" said Fabian blocking the doorway.

He crossed his arms and everyone automatically sat back down.

"Let's set some ground rules shall we?" started Fabian. As the others started to protest he added, "I think you owe me that much after setting my clothes on fire and locking us out in the rain."

Mara and Mick hung their heads at the mention of the clothes. _How'd he know about that? _they wondered.

"Fine," conceded Patricia.

"I don't mind if you find out about what she meant by "I would know why." But, honestly- It's probably because she doesn't like me. It's fine." He said trying to sound indifference. "But- do not interfere anymore," continued Fabian.

"But-" said Amber.

"Do not interfere," said Fabian.

Everyone nodded quietly, surprised at Fabian's assertiveness. The boys left, led by Fabian. And the girls quietly left the room to find Nina to find once and for all why she rejected Fabian.

* * *

**It's finally up! ****I apologize for the delay. This chapter had to be put in as a proper transition- although it is mostly dialogue- I felt it was necessary to get the this in there at some point. No worries though, next chapter is intended to have more Fabina :) **

**Thanks for all the reviews on the last chapter- I wish I could respond to each one right now- but I'm just going to cut to the chase and continue to write the next chapter. I appreciate you all for taking the time to write something back about my story- I took each to heart and truly considered them while writing this chapter. **

**The next chapter will come up tomorrow (or sooner if I get enough reviews to push me to move faster!) **


	6. Chapter 6

Amber found Nina in their room. The girls had previously decided not to bombard Nina- but to let only one person question her. Nina sat with her magazine attempting to try not to think about last night. She had already gone over the night a thousand times in her head.

She wasn't ready to go downstairs yet. She was scared that Fabian would be there. She was scared it would be awkward. And mostly she was scared that things would forever be different between her and Fabian. She didn't want to lose her best friend.

Amber flew into the room and cut straight to the chase (against Mara's express wishes to be subtle).

"Why didn't you kiss Fabian last night?" she demanded.

Nina stopped flipping through the magazine and looked up at Amber with a faint blush.

"How'd you know about that?"

"I asked the first question," said Amber flipping her hair.

This was a perfect moment to say "_None of your Business!" _but Nina liked Amber so she said nothing.

"Well? Why did you break his heart?" demanded Amber passionately with her hand dramatically over her own heart.

"Break his heart?" Nina nearly laughed. And if the situation wasn't so sad to her, she certainly would have.

"He has Patricia, I'm sure he'll survive," replied Nina dryly. Then Nina gasped.

"Patricia doesn't know that Fabian tried to kiss me, does she? Oh she is going to kill me!" cried Nina slapping her forehead. After all that, if Patricia found out about Fabian trying to kiss her- then she lost both Patricia as a friend AND Fabian!

"Why does it matter if Patricia knows?" asked Amber. It took her a bit, but after a lot of blinking, she finally came to the proper realization of what was going on.

"WAIT! You don't think Fabian and Patricia like each other- do you?" and as Amber said it, things pieced together for her.

"They do." Nina said it so assertively that she didn't even realize that she had allowed herself to believe what she saw to be true. She had been thinking so much about Fabian and Patricia- that she hadn't once considered that maybe they weren't together. That maybe she was wrong.

"No way," said Amber making face. And then she laughed.

It didn't process to Nina at first what Amber said. It was her turn to have the words to finally seep into comprehension.

"W-what?" Nina asked hardly daring to hope.

"YOU THOUGHT THEY WERE GOING OUT!" Amber sang joyously laughing.

"Shhhh!" shushed Nina still thinking, but this time with a sinking feeling. She had made a big mistake last night with Fabian, and was now going to have to fix it! She felt terrible. The poor, sweet boy had practically asked her out and she had coldly turned him away. At the same time she felt a bubbly feeling rise in her chest- she liked Fabian and didn't have to hide it!

"So you like him?" asked Amber.

"Yes," said Nina, now without hesitation.

"You lied in Truth-or-Dare!" said Amber sounding scandalized.

"I thought Patricia liked him! I didn't want her mad at me again!" she explained.

Amber's phone started to play a pump-up tune that seemed to parallel with Nina's feelings at the moment, Nina wanted to talk to Fabian- immediately.

"Oh- that's daddy I have to go now!" Amber squealed, "He's taking me out of school for a few days to see my family. My mum is taking me shopping for my summer wardrobe," she explained.

Nina wasn't really thinking about what Amber was telling her. She just nodded and gave Amber a hug. And as Amber walked out the door- Nina made a request, "Hey Amber? Please don't tell anyone about my mistake in thinking that Fabian and Patricia were going out- I want to be the one to tell him," she said.

"When are you going to tell him?"

"Right now," Nina confirmed.

"I'm SO excited! Don't worry- I won't say a thing!" said Amber.

And with that Amber left. Amber walked with confidence out the door after hugging Trudy goodbye. When her father picked her up she sat in the back of the extravagant, leather seated car utterly pleased with herself. She had saved a relationship and would certainly treat this nice shopping spree as a reward. _I am such a matchmaker. If only my own love life was as easy to solve, _Amber thought with a sigh.

* * *

Meanwhile, while Amber and Nina were having their illuminating conversation, Mara and Patricia sat in their room waiting.

Their conversations continually came back to wondering what Nina and Amber were talking about.

Mara didn't like that Amber went up to talk to Nina. Amber was too unpredictable and would most likely give away what they were doing. Mara still didn't know Nina very well and feared that Nina's reaction may be harsher than Fabians.

Actually, his reaction initially scared them all. He was always so calm and pleasant that no one had realized that he had any backbone. After that episode, everyone in the House would think twice about ever walking over Fabian again. Fabian proved that he could stick up for himself and Nina had brought that out in him. All in all, everyone was impressed and eager to see him and Nina together.

"This won't work," said Patricia, frustrated. She was so set on having Nina and Fabian together that she was concentrating all her efforts on this problem. Just like when Joy mysteriously disappeared, she could think of absolutely nothing else. When Patricia got her mind set on something she would accept only success. And now that the Joy mystery had been put to bed with Victor's computer chat with Joy, she had nowhere else to put her efforts but here.

"Why won't it work?" asked Mara.

"Oh please Mara, you are SO naïve! Do you think Nina is really just going to tell _Amber_-of all people- why she rejected Fabian?"

"I thought it might work," said Mara quietly.

"No way! We are wasting time. We need to inspire her to tell the truth and tell us how she really feels about Fabian. She HAS to like him. I refuse to believe that she doesn't like him- it's just not possible!"

"Wow Patricia. Are you ok? You're starting to scare me," said Mara in her heavy British accent and giving Patricia an odd look.

But Patricia wasn't listening. She jumped up on her bed and yelled, "I got it!"

"Got what?" asked Mara, not sure that she actually wanted to know.

"I have the perfect way to prove Nina's feelings towards Fabian! Why didn't I think of it before?" she said shaking her head.

"What?" Mara asked again.

"The perfect idea!" said Patricia running out of the room. Mara could do nothing but follow.

They walked down into the kitchen and sat at the table. Mara didn't like to be left in confusion so she kept asking Patricia what her idea was.

"You'll see," was all Patricia would say.

They saw Fabian come down and sit on the couch on the other side of the room with his textbook. He had changed clothes from earlier. He was wearing his leather jacket with dark red flannel that looked surprisingly good together. The girls couldn't help but feel pride in how they had made Fabian so much more appealing in his attractive new outfits.

Jerome and Alfie also came down a little later and goofed off in the kitchen where it was their turn to clean up from breakfast.

They all heard Amber shout goodbye to them all as she hugged Trudy goodbye and left the House with her dad. To Patricia and Mara, this was an obvious sign that Amber had nothing to tell them about her talk with Nina. Patricia was ready to put her plan into action.

"There she is! Time to put my plan into action," muttered Patricia as she watched Nina walk into the room and up to Fabian.

"What plan?" Mara asked again.

"To get Nina jealous," said Patricia getting up and quickly making her way to Fabian before Mara could say anything to stop her.

* * *

Nina walked up to Fabian, a bit jittery. She wasn't good at this, but it was her turn to make the next step. Fabian had tried to make a step towards her last night, and she had backed away- now she had to be the one to make the step towards him.

"Hey Fabian, I need to tell you something," she said shyly.

Fabian got up from the couch and gazed at her. Suddenly, Patricia swooped in, grabbed Fabian by the neck and pulled him down into a dramatic kiss.

The air was suddenly sucked out of the room as everyone stopped what they were doing. Suddenly there were crashes coming from inside the kitchen. As the kissers broke away, everyone's attention was diverted towards to source where the loud crashes came from.

Apparently Jerome had dropped a stack of Trudy's nice plates.

They heard Victor's heavy footsteps running from upstairs.

Everyone's attention went back to Patricia and Fabian and Nina.

Patricia's eyes flashed at Nina challenging her to say something.

Nina wanted to kick herself. She was being so stupid! Her love for Fabian was obviously clouding her judgment. This kiss finally proved to her than Patricia liked Fabian and Amber must have been mistaken. No more uncertainty- she would have to accept it. Nina made a one-eighty turn and left the room as Victor came in the room to yell at everyone and ask about all the commotion.

But how could anyone tell Victor that all the commotion was simply part of the teenage love life?

* * *

**A/N: I apologize about the complete absence of Fabina in this chapter. I changed directions for this story so there won't be any Fabina until NEXT chapter (To any of you who were waiting for it- Trust me, I am too. But I think that Fabina is largely meaningful if there is some background to it). **

**Next chapter coming the next 2-3 days (or less hopefully). Keep reviewing and I'll keep writing. **

**Thanks for reading. **


	7. Chapter 7

"Patricia!" Fabian yelled as Victor left the room. They were all on the floor cleaning up the shattered plates according to Victor's command.

"What did you DO?" he asked. He had felt that Nina was going to say something important to him and Patricia just messed everything up!

"Hey I was just seeing if she would get jealous," Patricia defended with a shake of the head.

"Stop trying to manipulate me and Nina!" he said rubbing his temples- now he had THIS to fix.

"So do you think she likes him?" Patricia asked Mara paying Fabian absolutely no attention.

"I. Am. Standing. Right. Here." Fabian said, tempted for the first time in his life to actually 'grit' his teeth.

Mara who was more considerate of Fabian's feelings was about to quietly suggest that they take this discussion to their room where Fabian would not be disturbed- but her phone interrupted her.

She had a text from Amber. (Apparently Amber had felt that ten minutes was plenty of time for Fabian and Nina to get together. Amber was dying with curiosity to hear of everyone's surprise when everything worked out.)

**Incoming Text (1) AMBER**: When r u going to tell me how wonderful I am?

Mara ignored that first text, but she responded when she saw the second text that came in only seconds later:

**Incoming Text (1) AMBER:** Hullo? I fixed everything! Fabian and Nina are together now- rite?

Mara shushed everyone as she immediately called Amber after reading the last text. They all looked questioningly at her. She put the cell on speakerphone when Amber picked up on the second ring.

"Amber! What do you mean that you fixed everything between Nina and Fabian?" asked Mara, cutting straight to the chase.

"Do I have to explain everything?" Amber said as they listened to her sigh from across the line.

"Just tell us!" yelled Patricia, who was becoming more and more ticked off by the second.

"Nina thought that Fabian and Patricia liked each other so she said she couldn't like Fabian. But, since I am so BRILLIANT- I figured out and set her straight on that crazy idea- and she said she would tell Fabian that she liked him. So, how'd it go?"

Upon hearing that Nina liked him Fabian felt a smile instantly grow on his face. It was as if all as it should be- oh wait. Except for the fact that Patricia kissed him and ruined everything!

Fabian snapped his head up at Patricia, "See? This is what meddling does!"

"Hullo?" Amber called from the phone.

Patricia clicked END CALL-and faced Fabian.

"Minor setback," Patricia said methodically shaking it off, "I knew she liked you!" she said triumphantly.

"Then why'd you kiss me?" said Fabian, still unhappy at Patricia for going against her word.

Fabian was going to argue some more, but he decided it would be best to just walk away and find Nina.

This was just too much drama for him. The House just put too much Uncertainty in the air. Everyone in the House had done so much manipulating and confused the fact so much that he needed to turn that Uncertainty into some grounded form of fact. The only way to do that was to go to Nina and just talk.

He wanted to be certain that Nina liked him, because he couldn't trust that even that was true. For now he would just be uncertain on everything and do everything in his power to not get his hopes up again.

He walked out of the House and across the grounds. As he was walking he saw a purple flower that has sprung up in the garden after the big rain the last night. He picked it and looked at it as he walked.

After crossing the grounds several times over, he decided to check back at the Anubis House for Nina. On his way, he saw that someone was sitting on the pavilion that backed up to the House.

He would have recognized that long brown hair anywhere- It was Nina! She was facing away from him. Fabian walked loudly towards her so that she wouldn't be surprised by his sudden appearance.

As he approached her, she didn't turn towards him.

Fabian tugged at his collar. He had some explaining to do.

"Nina?" he said. He saw Nina's head bob after a minute. It was barely a twitch, but he took that as permission to move on and start his talking.

"I want you to know that I don't like Patricia. I never have. I've always liked you. I like you so much that I haven't been able to stop thinking about you. And… And…" Fabian stopped. He couldn't think of anything else to say. He had never told a girl how he felt, and he thought that he was doing a pretty poor job.

He wished he could have a second chance and reword everything perfectly. He wished he could be like one of those dashing young Englishmen who could sweep Nina off her feet with just a few words, but Nina didn't even turn around to look at him.

He guessed that she may be mad at him. It was unlike Nina to be this cryptic or unforgiving but he was sensitive and asked her, "Should I just go now?"

Still she said nothing. He took this as his cue to leave.

He set down the purple flower on the ledge of the pavilion. He hoped she might pick it up later. He lightly set his hand to rest on the rail next to the flower and heard a distinct "click."

Suddenly he heard the piercing noise of wood moving and a "WHOOSH!" He was barely able to process what then happened in front of him. He watched the center of the pavilion give way and Nina fall right through the center.

He immediately jumped back from the pavilion and yelled "Nina!"

When he moved away, he felt a wooden switch move beneath his hand and realized what he had done. That switch he had rested his hand on was what opened the secret spot that Nina had fallen through.

He couldn't help it, but the first thought that came to mind was that of great irony.

_Of course!_ he thought in the back of his mind, _the one girl that I actually like- and I accidentally get her thrown down a creepy hole that appears in the center of a normal looking Pavilion. Figures. _

He called to her again as he approached the hole, worried. Although the wood looked rather stable it cracked when he took a step further.

He toppled right in. Thankfully it wasn't a far drop. He was even more thankful that he didn't fall right on top of Nina.

When the dusty air cleared, he saw Nina lying next to him. He immediately sat up in alarm.

"Nina! Are you ok?" he asked hesitantly putting an arm on her shoulder.

"Yah," she said with a slight groan. "My ankle hurts."

Fabian wanted to check it out but Nina wouldn't let him.

"Are you still really mad at me? " Fabian asked nervously.

"What are you talking about?" asked Nina who was now distracted from her hurting ankle. She suddenly noticed how close they both were as she could do nothing but look him straight in the eye. She was able to find refuge from looking in his eyes by folding up her ear bud wires.

"Wait! Were you just listening to your music player?" asked Fabian suddenly.

"Yah," she replied, "But all of a sudden the floor opened beneath me- and here we are," she explained.

Fabian started to laugh.

"Why are you laughing?" she asked trying not to smile.

Fabian explained that he had been trying to talk to her earlier and just had a one sided conversation so he thought she was ignoring him. Nina laughed at this. Then with seriousness, Fabian explained how he was responsible for their being stuck because he accidentally clicked the switch.

"That's odd," Nina commented, "I thought only the necklace opened passages and clues of the House."

They glanced around and saw that they had landed in a dark claustrophobic corridor. There was a hallway with a low lying ceiling right in front of them.

Water dripped from somewhere and it was oddly cold down there.

"Should we look around?" asked an always curious Nina.

"Are you able to with your ankle?" asked Fabian.

In response Nina cockily stood up but her ankle wouldn't support her. She started to fall but Fabian caught her in his arms.

Nina tried to move away from him and stand on her own. She felt guilty letting Fabian hold her when he had just seen Patricia possessively kiss him less than an hour ago.

Fabian didn't let go of her.

"I can walk _fine_ Fabian," she said trying to assure him of her capability of walking.

"Nina," he said and she turned to look into his eyes- a move she instantly regretted. He held her there and began to speak.

"I don't like Patricia. She kissed me earlier because she wanted to provoke you into saying that you liked me. Nina- I like you," he said emphasizing the 'you'.

"But you and Patricia have had all these moments… and I thought…" but she trailed off lamely.

Nina had convinced herself of something that she was utterly uncertain of. She wanted to refuse to believe that she had that much uncertainty about how Fabian felt about her, but apparently it was true.

"I thought you liked her," Nina said softly looking up at him. She felt she owed him an explanation. "I thought you BOTH liked each other and I didn't want to get in the way,"

"The other night—" Fabian began. But he suddenly stopped when they both heard footsteps.

Fabian saw Nina's eyes grow wide and he noticed how she no longer was limp in his arms- but clutching him in alarm.

As the steps good louder and closer, they realized that they needed to hide from whoever—or whatever was coming towards them. Because whatever it was, it couldn't be good.

* * *

**A/N: Thanks for reading. Thank you for the reviews- the time you take in making a thoughtful review makes me the happier than you can imagine. **_**The last chapter will come out later this week. Reviews help me go faster (as always!) **_

**In response to a few reviews: **

**Yes I agree! They are impulsive-crazy-unpredictable teenagers. I want to strangle half of them for their stupidity, but they DO create an interesting group to write about. Without their meddling- there would be no story. **

**Ohsostrange: I want to tell you that before I got that review from you (which more kind than my humble story deserved)- I thought that I had invented the word 'butt.' I am the only one I know who uses that word, so it fascinates me to find another person who calls people that. And yes, I will use all flames to warm my hot chocolate :) **


	8. Author's Note

**Dear Readers-**

**As you have noticed, I have not completed HOUSE OF UNCERTAINTY. I regret to say that it will remain uncompleted. I owe you an explanation and I hope you will understand. I was pretty close to finishing it up when my good friend passed away in February. Needless to say, I stopped writing for several months, and now I don't think it would be fair to finish it poorly.**

**Considering it's summer, I will be writing some new stuff and moving on and I figured that I owe an explanation to those who were looking for a satisfying conclusion (or ANY conclusion for that matter).**

**If you are reading this author's note now, please know that I am honored you got this far. Thank you.**

**Love, Tsurt Emit**


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